[llvm-dev] Some questions about phase ordering in OPT and LLC

[Mehdi Amini via llvm-dev]

> On May 9, 2016, at 10:43 AM, Ricardo Nobre via llvm-dev <llvm-dev at lists.llvm.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi,
> 
> I'm a PhD student doing phase ordering as part of my PhD topic and I would like to ask some questions about LLVM.
> 
> Executing the following command to see what passes does OPT execute when targeting a SPARC V8 processor:
> 
> /opt/clang+llvm-3.7.1-x86_64-linux-gnu-ubuntu-15.10/bin/llvm-as < /dev/null | /opt/clang+llvm-3.7.1-x86_64-linux-gnu-ubuntu-15.10/bin/opt -O3 -march=sparc -mcpu=v8 -disable-output -debug-pass=Arguments
> 
> I get the following output:
> Pass Arguments:  -tti -no-aa -tbaa -scoped-noalias -assumption-cache-tracker -targetlibinfo -basicaa -verify -simplifycfg -domtree -sroa -early-cse -lower-expect
> Pass Arguments:  -targetlibinfo -tti -no-aa -tbaa -scoped-noalias -assumption-cache-tracker -basicaa -ipsccp -globalopt -deadargelim -domtree -instcombine -simplifycfg -basiccg -prune-eh -inline-cost -inline -functionattrs -argpromotion -domtree -sroa -early-cse -lazy-value-info -jump-threading -correlated-propagation -simplifycfg -domtree -instcombine -tailcallelim -simplifycfg -reassociate -domtree -loops -loop-simplify -lcssa -loop-rotate -licm -loop-unswitch -instcombine -scalar-evolution -loop-simplify -lcssa -indvars -loop-idiom -loop-deletion -loop-unroll -mldst-motion -domtree -memdep -gvn -memdep -memcpyopt -sccp -domtree -bdce -instcombine -lazy-value-info -jump-threading -correlated-propagation -domtree -memdep -dse -loops -loop-simplify -lcssa -licm -adce -simplifycfg -domtree -instcombine -barrier -float2int -domtree -loops -loop-simplify -lcssa -loop-rotate -branch-prob -block-freq -scalar-evolution -loop-accesses -loop-vectorize -instcombine -scalar-evolution -slp-vectorizer -simplifycfg -domtree -instcombine -loops -loop-simplify -lcssa -scalar-evolution -loop-unroll -instcombine -loop-simplify -lcssa -licm -scalar-evolution -alignment-from-assumptions -strip-dead-prototypes -elim-avail-extern -globaldce -constmerge -verify
> 
> Why are there two "Pass Arguments"?
> What does it mean?


There are two PassManager instantiated and ran on the IR. I am not aware of a good reason for that (the first one is created with PassManagerBuilder::populateFunctionPassManager() and the second one with PassManagerBuilder::populateModulePassManager()).

You can look at AddOptimizationPasses() in opt.cpp.

> 
> What passes should I pass the 'opt' tool (the LLVM Optimizer) so that it is equivalent to the use of -O3 with 'opt'?
> The ones of the first "Pass Arguments", or the second?

Both, with two separate opt invocation...

> 
> I'm testing different phase orders, and one of the exploration schemes I want to try is to start with the equivalent of -O3 and iteratively apply small changes (e.g. swap passes in the compiler pass sequence equivalent to -O3), and compile and test with those different sequences.
> 
> Additionally, I'm a bit confused about what passes does 'llc' (the LLVM static compiler) apply by default, when passing to it a LLVM IR previously optimized using the 'opt' tool.
> 
> 'llc --help' says that the default is -O2:
> "Optimization level. [-O0, -O1, -O2, or -O3] (default = '-O2')"
> 
> But is this -O2 the same as the -O2 from the 'opt' tool?
> 
> Does it mean that if I generate an optimized LLVM IR with 'opt' (with -O2) and pass it to 'llc', it will by default apply all passes in -O2 a second time?
> Or do 'opt -O2' and 'llc -O2' represent different passes?

The optimization level for llc has nothing to do with opt, it controls only the codegen (target specific). In any case, llc won't re-run the optimizer pipeline. 

See llc.cpp, the logic is easy to follow.

  CodeGenOpt::Level OLvl = CodeGenOpt::Default;
  switch (OptLevel) {
  default:
    errs() << argv[0] << ": invalid optimization level.\n";
    return 1;
  case ' ': break;
  case '0': OLvl = CodeGenOpt::None; break;
  case '1': OLvl = CodeGenOpt::Less; break;
  case '2': OLvl = CodeGenOpt::Default; break;
  case '3': OLvl = CodeGenOpt::Aggressive; break;
  }



-- 
Mehdi